Goodreads adds half and quarter stars after a decade of asking
The site added 3.5 million new ratings in under two days, and the top new score so far is 3.5

Ten-plus years of readers asking for half-stars, and Goodreads finally delivered — along with quarter-stars nobody quite asked for. The uptake speaks for itself: 3.5 million ratings in under two days isn't a shrug, it's a flood. My read is simple — this is a genuinely good change for authors, but it's landing with some rough edges you should know about before you go looking at your book's page.
Why it matters to you: Your old whole-star ratings stay exactly as they were unless a reader chooses to go back and re-rate, so don't expect your book's page to look different overnight.
This story ran in the Coral Wire edition of Sun, Oct 11 2026, when the Coral Index stood at 80/100 (Green light).
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- Goodreads finally supports half-star ratingsgoodereader.com
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